Friday, January 16, 2009

US Airways Pilot = Hudson River Hero for a lot of reasons

As I watched the news coverage of the US Airways crash on the Hudson River.a few things ran threw my mind..I was relieved : That it was not my family or me in the friggid waters in that plane between NYC & NJ, that the aircraft did not break into several jagged pieces upon impact and that the passengers were all safe and for the most part, calm about it.

Some say it was a miracle. The miracle was that THIS veteran captain was still around to save this plane and these people. THAT was the miracle. That Somehow Captain "Sully" Sullenberger III survived layoffs, mergers and cuts so the people on that flight could benefit from a guy with 30 years experience that calmly "landed" the plane "on top" of the water while the proverbial crap was hitting the fan....then he's the last one off before exiting the aircraft.

The plane looked almost serene floating there in the final moments before it was towed away by NYC tugs. Holy crud. Water has the density of concrete. We've all seen videos of planes disinegrating during water crashes and "Sully" manages to avoid a flaming inner city crash, then realizes he doesn't have the altitude for another smaller airport so he GLIDES it ONTO a RIVER....AND ...never raises his voice...or panics. CAPTAIN SULLY ROCKS !

MEGA-PROMOTIONAL COUP for US AIRWAYS !

(..and people wonder why pilots are chick magnets ?)

There are a lot of Hudson River heros out there.....have you ever been in an air traffic control tower ? Somebody is flying all those aircraft. How many plane crashes have you heard of ?

So , now we can add PILOTS to the list of "people society takes for granted" along with Cops, Firefighters, our Military....you get the idea.

Then for some reason I thought about POLITICS..and how many losers(think Blago) make it into politics....... and why there can't be more Cpt. Sullys in Chicago, DC or Harrisburg...but then - WHO WOULD FLY THE PLANES ?

God Bless Captain Sully and all the men & women who take our lives in their hands each day